Tuesday, July 10, 2018

American workers in an Illinois steel town are finally seeing relief after years of job-killing free trade thanks to President Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported steel. A Chicago Tribune report by Samantha Bomkamp reveals how Granite City, Illinois, is seeing a renewed steel industry after Trump’s tariffs on steel imports were implemented. In 2015, the Illinois steel town saw 2,000 layoffs of American steel workers from the city’s local steel plant. Now, because of Trump’s tariffs on steel, the Granite City steel plant is rehiring 800 steel workers—about half of which will be those who were laid off in 2015 and the other half will be new hires. Local business owners told the Chicago Tribune that they’re happy to see the steel jobs reopening in their town, as they say, the layoffs in 2015 hit their businesses as well: ------------------------------------Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have been welcomed by American workers and steel workers who say their jobs need to be protected from foreign competition. In the latest Harvard/Harris Poll, 83 percent of Republican voters say they support tariffs on imported products like automobiles and electronics. Additionally, 81 percent of conservatives said they too supported tariffs, along with 61 percent of Americans living in rural communities. Meanwhile, the Washington, DC, beltway, Chamber of Commerce, and Republican establishment has fought against Trump’s “America First” trade policies. The Chamber of Commerce announced last week that they would launch a nationwide campaign against Trump’s tariffs, despite their popularity. Since 2001, free trade with China has cost millions of Americans their jobs. Between 2001 and 2015, about 3.4 million U.S. jobs were lost due to the country’s trade deficit with China, as Breitbart News reported. Of the 3.4 million U.S. jobs lost in that time period, about 2.6 million were lost in the crippled manufacturing industry, making up about three-fourths of the loss of jobs from the U.S.-Chinese trade deficit.https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/08/illinois-steel-town-trumps-tariffs-secure-800-new-jobs-laid-off-american-workers/